Monday, July 16, 2012

The happiest place on earth

I'm pretty sure Disneyland has nothing on Salmon, Idaho. Eloise went on her first four wheeler ride on Sunday, June 24. Jared was a little skittish about getting on, but Eloise screamed and cried when we tried to take her off. She spent a lot of time after her rides sitting on the four wheeler pretending she was driving.

I'm told that Idaho rules about safety are different. Apparently people don't worry about silly things like car seats, helmets, or children's lives. That could explain why we always have such a wonderful time there.

Jared and Eloise learned to love trampolines in April at Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house. Jared and his second cousin Brooklyn played many games of "Ring Around the Rosies" on the trampoline. Eloise started calling the trampoline the "all fall down." She crawled to the back door, pointed out at the trampoline, and asked, "All fall down?" any time she wanted to go play.

On Monday we went to Williams Lake with Uncle Von, Aunt Patty, and any of their clan who stuck around (Jan and George and family, and Bryce). Ashley brought her kids over for a while between baseball practices and tournaments. We had a great time (not) water skiing, riding in the boat, swimming in the frigid water, and playing in the shade. Eloise enjoyed the boat, but not her one brief contact with water. She spent most of her time sitting on a towel and snacking. We almost managed to sacrifice my old $5 hat to the lake in a gust of wind, but blind luck had us drive right by it on our way back to rescue a water ski, and George saved it. This just proves that the sunglasses principle applies to hats, too; the cheaper it is, the harder it is to break or lose it.

We got the kids life jackets so that they could go on the boat. Jared discovered that his works just fine in shallow water, where he spent a lot of his time.

We did manage to drag him out of the water eventually, when he was turning blue. We parked him in the sun and stuffed him with juice and fruit snacks.

Eloise got one short nap, strapped to my back, at the lake, but all the fun wore both kids out. After a quick bath, they both fell asleep before the evening socializing had even begun.

We decided to start the drive home on Tuesday morning instead of waiting until Wednesday so that we wouldn't have to be rushed. A shortage of stops on our way to Idaho had left both kids with stomach aches and led to really, really bad night's sleep that we didn't want to repeat. We were very sad to leave Idaho. We left with our head full of unlikely plans for building a summer home there so that we don't ever have to feel like our leaving is permanent.

The ride home was fairly uneventful. Jared spent the entire ride watching for sprinklers, which are a novelty to a child who doesn't remember much of life outside of the Pacific Northwest. Eloise spent the entire ride watching for cows. Every time she saw any kind of livestock out her window, she called, "Tow! Boooooooo!" ("Boo," says the cow, not to be mistaken for "moo," which is what she says when she wants milk.)

We brought Grandma Knight home with us to entertain the kids on the drive. Oh, and we also wanted to spend more time visiting with her. Fun in Idaho was over, for now, but fun with grandparents was just starting.